Out of nowhere, a tree fell down in the woods near us! It didn't exactly just "fall down", either - there was an awful loud, ripping, shredding, tearing noise. Jack the cat was terrified and tried to take off running, luckily he was on a leash or he would have run until he was lost. He was flipping and jumping around- I had to scoop him up and hold onto him to calm him. The noise of a tree crashing down- the noise of ripping, shredding wood, is one of the scariest noises I've heard in the woods. The tree crashed loudly into other trees. I stood still with Jack in my arms until the noise ended. Then I put Jack back in the house & went back to investigate.

I found what I believe is an oak tree - broken down. It appeared to have a hollow spot near the base which somehow made it fall. It was a good solid tree, I was surprised it came crashing down.

10 comments:

Haha, I was thinking that this must have been a little deja vu for you. I can't believe that you have had this happen twice now. Pretty neat though. Just as long as the next one doesn't try and fall on your head.

I remember as a kid on the farm, a tree right next to our house went down. A great big fat tree. I don't know what kind or why it came down (it was pretty old and held our tire swing.)It sounded like a train going by! An old steam engine!It was really loud! Happily it didn't fall towards the house- it would have hit my bedroom which was right next to it. It fell over and part of it landed on the fence around Nana's pool! After that, a willow tree next to the pool started sending it's roots over and tried to get into the pool! What a mess!

Falling trees make a really loud noise and yes! even if no one is around I believe it's still just as loud. A tree fell on my house a few years ago.. I was at work but my adult son was there. He called me and said it shook the house and sounded like an explosion. He thought the furnace blew up. Thankfully most of the damage was isolated to the porch roof.. Your photos are great. Shows it very well.

Whoa! Thank goodness you and Jack weren't hurt. When I lived in NC, we had a hurricane come through. We had some huge trees in the backyard, oaks and poplars. The storm was just starting to subside, and I was looking out the window thinking we're so lucky that we didn't lose any trees. The water level is not very deep in coastal NC and the roots of trees are very close to the surface. All of a sudden, as I finished my thought, one of the oaks just fell over, pulling its whole root system out of the ground and taking our fence with it.

Robin - Yes, it was deja vu. I'll be thinking it will happen again on my next walk it the woods with the cat!

Barb - It sounds like that Nana's pool was destined to have problems!

Linda - Yep, I agree, the answer is yes!

Toni aka irishlas - Jack is a little nervous cat, anyway, so this really freaked him out. He loves to be outside, but he's so scared to be outside.

Cindy - I've been telling Randy he needs to go cut up that tree in all his spare time. He just gives me "that look". It's been raining the last couple days anyway.

Jalynn - Wow, that's scary that your son was in the house. I've heard from people with similar experiences that it does sound like an explosion. Glad he was ok!

Genny - That must have been awful to see an oak tree just go over like that! We lived in VA Beach fro 8 yrs and lost alot of pine trees because of similar water problems during hurricanes, but no big oaks!

TIF - legitimately, I think your husband is right. Unless the waves that make sound hit an eardrum then they are just that - sound waves in the air. But the birds and the other animals of the forest all have ears, they would have heard it even if I didn't. So it still would have made a sound, even if it was just to the animals and not heard by a human (or feline) ear. Ask him - is this right??? :)